What Is Part 1
by Willow-Bee the Cat
Summary: Kakashi never thought Rin would die first. Sequel to What Will Never Be


Disclaimer: I neither own nor make a profit from Harry Potter or Naruto.

Spoilers: Everything for both series.

Summary: Kakashi never thought Rin would die first.

Author's Note: This is the sequel to What Will Never Be and part one of the second story in the What Is And What Will Never Be series. One more story comes after this.

* * *

What Is Part 1

* * *

She was a soft, delicate young woman dressed in foreign clothing unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Tokubetsu Jonin Sarutobi Hiruzen-he hated his name, hated that he'd been named for his paternal grandfather-did not quite know what to make of the woman before him. In her annoyance, she seemed to be unconsciously channeling chakra-enough for a b-level jutsu at least. She wasn't even trying to hide her chakra. A kunoichi, perhaps? Although it was somewhat hard to tell just how muscled she was under that cumbersome multilayered long dress. Then again, one couldn't really judge whether somebody was shinobi or civilian by chakra levels. Many civilians had high chakra levels-though generally not that high.

"Excuse me," she said insistently, brushing her wild hip length auburn curls over her shoulder. "I asked you a question." She let out a sigh and muttered, "Are all men around here so rude?"

He could not help but gape. Most sane civilians didn't speak that way to higher level shinobi. She was a civilian, he decided. She had neither the grace nor the hardness of a kunoichi.

"Could you repeat the question, ma'am," he said, if only because her attitude was something of a novelty.

"I'm trying to find somebody-my mother asked me to deliver a letter for her."

"Is this someone shinobi or civilian?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea. All I know is that his name is Hatake Kakashi and he lived in this village twenty years ago."

Hiruzen blinked, unable to voice his shock or disbelief. Surely she'd heard of Sharingan no Kakashi. And then he mentally slapped himself. He was no green Genin, he knew better than this. While Hatake was famous amongst his fellow shinobi, most civilians had never even heard of him before.

"Do you want to deliver this letter in person, or just leave it in his mail box."

"In person."

"Right. I've an idea or two of where he'd been this time of the morning," he announced. "I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen."

"Weasley Rose," she said. Her name, he noted, was as exotic as her clothing.

"So you're mother asked you to deliver this letter?" he said, trying to make conversation with this woman who was possibly a kunoichi or a civilian or an assassin.

"She did," said Rose, her eyes slightly watery.

The walk to the memorial stone took surprisingly little time. On a subconscious level, Hiruzen supposed he just hadn't expected Rose to be able to keep up with his quick walking pace.

Kakashi was there when they arrived, not that it was much of a surprise. The elderly man spent his mornings at the stone, speaking to those long dead when he'd no other obligations, and quite often when he did have obligations as well. There was no sign the former Hokage knew they were there, yet Hiruzen was sure the man was aware of their presence.

This suspicion was proved when Kakashi put his familiar orange book into a pocket-a rare event-and announced, "I'll take it from here, Hiruzen-kun."

* * *

Now that Rose had found him, she wasn't quite sure what to do. He'd aged, she noted. His hair was more white than gray these days and there were wrinkles around the visible eye. After some thought she approached the man and stood beside him, looking at the stone.

"What is this?" she asked, absently reading the names.

In the end, she'd learned the language not from her mother, the woman who should have taught her, but from the dogs. She'd been eleven, about to enter Hogwarts when she'd been given the contract to sign. Part of her was sure her mother had allowed her to sign the contract Hermione had generally pretended didn't exist because she was afraid Rose would be exposed to the same dangers she had as a teen, never mind that the civil war was long over.

"The Memorial Stone. All shinobi killed in the service of Konoha are listed here."

"Uchiha Obito… he was your third teammate, right?" said Rose, noting the way Kakashi's expression refused to change. "She used to dream about him-when Dad was away for the night. Sometimes I heard her scream for him. And you." A wave of regret washed over her as a guilt ridden, broken look crossed the man's face. She looked down, ashamed. "Mom's dead-the curse finally got the better of her and she died last week."

"The curse?" he echoed.

"Did you ever see that scar that went across her chest?" she asked. At his nod, Rose continued. "She got that scar when she was hit by this curse in the middle of a battle when she was… sixteen-or maybe she was seventeen or eighteen, I never managed to get a straight answer on just how old she really was. Anyway, she should have died that day, but she'd always been the stubborn sort. I'm not sure what sort of medical technique she used, but every couple of weeks she had to use it on herself again to keep the curse from killing her. But it had been… getting worse. The medical spell or whatever it was stopped working as well as it used to. She only really hung on this long to see Hugo-my little brother-graduate from school. The last couple of months were-they were bad."

Rose pulled a thick scroll from her pocket. "Here. Mom asked me to deliver this to you when she died. Well, she asked me to ask Pakkun or Bull to deliver it."

"Then why did you come?"

She gave him a measuring look. "I remember you. I remember you visiting once, when Mom was pregnant with Hugo." At his surprised look, she explained, "I've always been very good at seeing through illusions and by that point, I'd already known all the interesting things happened when I was supposed to be asleep."

They were silent for several long moments. "Did you love Mom?" He said nothing and she continued. "I think… I think she loved you."

"Rosie-chan," said Kakashi. "You're mother and I-it was complicated."

"Because you were children and it was a war. Bull told me." Rose look at the stone. "Mom never really loved Dad. Then again, I don't think he loved her either. I think they'd been friends so long it just felt natural that they get married. Dad… I don't think Dad could really connect to other women, women who'd hidden rather than fought-if he even bothered to try at all. And Dad never really tried to see bellow the mask Mom wore. He just let her be who she wanted to pretend she was." She looked him in the eye. "I think you and I were the only ones Mom ever let see what was under that mask."

* * *

Rose glanced about for a moment before sliding into a chair across from Hiruzen. The bar was nearly empty, but Rose supposed it was a bit early in the day for drinking. It seemed that all but two of the bar's patrons were at this table with Hiruzen.

"Good afternoon Weasrii-san," said Hiruzen, with an expression that made it clear he knew how horribly he'd mispronounced her family name.

She smiled. "I'll let you call me Rose if you let me call you Hiruzen-san."

"Alright, Rozu-san. Did you deliver your letter?"

A sharp nod was the only response. "I hope you don't mind if I join you guys."

"'Course not," said one of the men-a youngish blonde with the deepest blue eyes.

Rose raised an eyebrow and locked down her occlumency shields. "I don't appreciate having others attempt to enter my mind without permission." He let out a grunt of pain and clutched his head. "Next time you do this you'll spend a month thinking you're a little girl who likes to play dolls."

A brown haired man snorted. "Told you that was going to get you into trouble one of these days, Yamanaka."

"What are you, really?" asked Hiruzen.

"Human."

"Funny."

"I thought so. If you really want to know, I just finished an apprenticeship as a curse breaker."

"What's a curse breaker?" demanded Yamanaka, clearly still offended.

"Do I really look like I have any intention of telling you that, nosey-san?"

Yamanaka's friend snorted and announced, "Come on, taichou will kill up if we're late for practice."

With that, the group of men, save Hiruzen got up. Tossing money on the table and saying quick goodbyes, they ambled out the door, heading to who knows where.

"So why did you're mother write to Kakashi-san?"

"Like I said before, do I look like I have any intention of telling you?"

"Want to play a game of shogi?"

"I'd love to." Maybe, if he didn't ask too many questions she wouldn't slaughter him too badly. In this subject, at least, she was very much her father's daughter.

"Loser picks up what's left of the tab."

With a nod Rose began to search through the menu for the most expensive meal as Hiruzen set up the board. It seemed she'd have to slaughter him after all.


End file.
